Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician, and psychiatrist.

She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of female genital mutilation in her society.

She described her mutilation in The Hidden Face of Eve (1977) in these words:

“Then suddenly the sharp metallic edge seemed to drop between my thighs and there cut off a piece of flesh from my body.”

[…]

“I did not know what they had cut off from my body, and I did not try to find out. I just wept, and called out to my mother for help. But the worst shock of all was when I looked around and found her standing by my side. Yes, it was her, I could not be mistaken, in flesh and blood, right in the midst of these strangers, talking to them and smiling at them, as though they had not participated in slaughtering her daughter just a few moments ago.”